


The Trouble with Raptors

by Mystique6



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Velociraptors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-04-26 06:23:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4993654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystique6/pseuds/Mystique6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If you give a raptor an inch they'll take a mile.  This story begins a few months before the I-Rex gets out and explores the trouble the raptor handlers have with the raptor squad, and the attachment they have to their animals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Escape Artists

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! Like my fic Trust Issues, please don't expect regular updates. I work on those two when I have a few extra minutes before class begins and I switch them out. They are not on my actual writing schedule although as I complete fics they will eventual move onto the schedule. Still, I hope you enjoy and please leave reviews! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing from Jurassic World.

         Dylan’s boot clad feet crunched across the dirt as she rushed towards the ready cages of the raptor paddock. Her dog, Bentley, was right at her heels. She was late, as usual. Owen, Barry, and Nolan, the other raptor handlers, were already finishing up their morning inspections of their assigned velociraptor. She picked up her pace as she reached the ready cage.

         “Good morning,” she said hurriedly as she passed Owen.

         Owen gave her a look. “You’re late again,” he said mildly.

        “You could just wake me up,” Dylan replied.

        “Ha!” Owen laughed shaking his head and giving one of the workers the okay sign to let Blue out of the holding cage. Barry and Nolan were also snickering as they signaled the workers to let Delta and Echo free.

        “I’d rather face down the girls than take you on in the morning,” Barry told her.

        Dylan rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her favorite raptor. “Hello, Charlie,” she greeted the velociraptor cheerfully. Charlie wasn’t impressed and gave her an annoyed snort.

        “I’d do more than just snort at her, Char,” Owen said. “Her laziness is the reason you’re stuck in the holding cage longer than your sisters.”

        “Will you shut up,” Dylan sighed beginning to check Charlie over for any signs of wounds she might have gotten over night while she and the other handlers weren’t there. The girls didn’t typically fight each other, but she’d never forget the time they came back in the morning one time to see Echo’s snout practically torn open and thrown out of alignment, and a huge gash in her thigh. Blue had been pretty scratched up too. Owen and Nolan had been a wreck that day as they rushed to get the park’s veterinarian. Luckily, they’d only ever had that one scare. And today it didn’t seem like that record would be broken. Charlie didn’t have a scratch on her. Smiling, Dylan pulled out an ophthalmoscope and checked out the raptor’s eyes.

          Satisfied, she put the device away and tapped Charlie twice on the snout. It was the signal she’d created to let Charlie know she wanted to inspect her teeth. Of course, Charlie only listened to it about half the time, and apparently today she’d decided to be ornery. “C’mon Char,” Dylan encouraged. “The quicker you show me your teeth the quicker you get to be with your sisters and get breakfast.” She tapped the raptor’s snout again and this time the raptor opened her mouth as far as the face muzzle would allow. Dylan leaned in close, wrinkling her nose at the predator’s rancid breath, and looked for any damage to the raptor’s teeth. Luckily, today she could give Charlie a clean bill of health. Standing up straight she gave a worker the okay sign and watched as Charlie was freed from the ready cage. The youngest raptor quickly joined her sisters and then was fed by Owen, who acted as the pack’s Alpha. He had apparently decided that Dylan had kept them waiting too long and opted to forgo the training for the moment.

          “All right, so we don’t have much on the agenda today,” Owen said coming down from the catwalk.

         “What about a perimeter check?” Dylan questioned. Once a week someone would walk around the enclosure and check for weak spots in the walls. Animals had a tendency to escape, and when you were containing a smart animal, like velociraptors, it was important to check up on it.

          “It was already done this week,” Owen replied.

         “When?” Dylan asked.

        “On Monday,” Nolan told her.

        “So early?”

       “The guy who usually does it is gone on vacation so Marty did it Monday,” Owen replied. “He wanted to do it early before he forgot.”

        “You’d know this if you came in on time,” Nolan added.

        “I was coming in from the Mainland,” Dylan sighed. “It’s not my fault the boat was late.”

        “Could the two of you not fight today?” Owen asked annoyed. His eyes swept over to Dylan. “If you want to do another perimeter check, be my guest.”

        “I will. It can’t hurt,” Dylan said.

        “And it’s something to do,” Barry commented pulling a rolled up comic book out of his back pocket. Dylan flashed him a smile before taking off around the enclosure. Bentley followed at her heels. She kept her eyes trained on the wall, looking for any cracks in the concrete, or any holes in the ground at the base of the wall. They learned the hard way that Velociraptors could dig. Go figure. Everything was looking good until she came to Section C of the enclosure. Most walls of the raptor enclosure were made of solid concrete, but there were two exceptions. The iron gate that allowed entrance into the raptor enclosure, and the section she was staring at now.

         The entire wall was a fifteen foot stretch of steel cable fence that the InGen Company who’d had the enclosure built had assured them was strong enough to withstand any wear from the Velociraptors. Nolan had accepted the assurances with no argument. Owen had accepted with a “we’ll see” attitude. She and Barry knew it was only a matter of time before the cables broke, and she was wondering if today was that day. Dylan’s sharp eyes stared at the cables. They looked a little bent in one spot to her. She placed her hands on her hips and stared contemplatively at the cables before scanning around the inside of the enclosure. Delta was standing about twenty-five feet away from the fence, although the raptor didn’t seem interested in her.

         Still, Dylan was smart enough to realize that the raptor might still be paying attention. Warily, Dylan placed her hands on the cable and pushed. The cable bent in a little, and if it gave under her weight than a velociraptor could easily break through. Just as Dylan let go of the cable wire Delta ran at the fence. The cables bent dangerously to the point of breaking, and the force of the hit knocked Dylan onto her back on the ground. Bentley was barking frantically. Pushing herself up on her elbows Dylan pulled the walkie talkie from its holster at her hip and radioed in Owen.

         “Hey Dill, you almost back yet?” Owen asked.

         “There’s about to be a breach in the enclosure,” Dylan said climbing back to her feet quickly.

         “What?” Owen replied, shocked.

        “The cables were bent and when I pushed on them to check, Delta…shit!” Dylan cursed as the cables nearly gave way at another attack from Delta. She took another step back before barking orders to Owen. “Send people with tranqs immediately, and try to secure the other raptors. Hurry!” She heard the static from Owen’s reply but she’d tossed the device down as Delta finally barreled through the cable wires. Behind her Bentley ran in frenzied circles, barking and whining furiously.

        “Stay, Bentley,” she ordered the dog. She knew to stand her ground if she wanted any chance of surviving this encounter. And she’d like her dog to survive it too. Dylan kept her eyes on Delta who was taking slow, stalking steps towards her. Dylan drew herself to her full height and planted her feet firmly on the ground.

        “Delta, back it up,” she ordered firmly, and then whipped her head around when she heard a loud screech in her right ear. She bit back a groan. Echo had joined her sibling. Of course the two most aggressive raptors had to be the ones to break out. If Owen and the others didn’t get here soon she was screwed. The two sisters were moving in on her, forcing her to back up. She felt another flutter of fear in her chest when her calves bumped up into Bentley. She now had nowhere to run. She tried to take a step forward. “Delta, Echo, back up!”

        The two raptors ignored her, bending into a springing condition, and then Delta let out a shriek and fell to the ground. Dylan whipped her head around and saw Owen, Barry, and a few InGen soldiers barreling her way in a motorized cart. Unfortunately, their action startled Bentley and her Golden Retriever took off running, catching the attention of Echo. Without even thinking about it Dylan ran at the raptor and used all her weight to shove the raptor up against a pole of the fence that was still standing. Echo screeched indignantly, her limbs flailing around before a tranquilizer dart got her too, and she fell silent and unmoving.

        “Are you crazy?!” Barry cried rushing towards her.

        “Well, I wasn’t about to let her eat my dog,” Dylan replied wincing as she placed her hand over gash in her thigh.

        “Yeah, that’s a pretty clear example of why you shouldn’t have your pet around the raptors,” Owen scolded mildly before pulling her into a hug. “You all right?”

        “Fine,” Dylan said smiling shakily. “I should have known better than to test that fence while Delta was in sight.”

        “She would have attacked it whether you’d been there or not,” Owen told her. “It’s actually a good thing you did test it.”

        “Good thing I wanted to do a perimeter check you mean,” Dylan chuckled weakly. “I don’t see the other girls. I’m guessing you have Blue and Charlie secured?”

        “Yeah, they were no trouble. The two were right by the holding pen when you rang in. Nolan got the two in the pen with little problem,” Barry replied. “We didn’t know where Echo was so we just took off to take care of the breach.”

        “Well, you have good timing,” Dylan said as she cleaned out the cut on her thigh with anti-bacterial cream she always carried just in case something like this happened. By some miracle she wouldn’t even need stitches. “Any longer and I would have been raptor chow.”

        “Yeah, not a pleasant way to go,” Owen commented as a group of workers worked together to get Echo and Delta up onto a truck to transport them to the holding pen.

        “They’re not gonna be happy though,” Barry added. “They’re all stuck in that holding pen until Masrani pays for a new fence.”

        “Yeah, and we’ll have the same argument that they shouldn’t use steel cable wire instead of concrete or iron," Owen sighed.

       “No we won’t,” Dylan told him. “Masrani’s a reasonable guy. Send him a letter explaining why we should use concrete or iron and he’ll have the matter settled in our favor. We should have done that when they first built the enclosure instead of trusting InGen to know what they were doing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a traumatized dog I need to go track down.” She’d walked a few paces away before turning back to Owen and Barry. “Don’t you miss when they were little and almost affectionate?”

        Barry laughed. “Most days,” he admitted.

        “Yeah, back then they weren’t lethal,” Owen said. “And their first thought wasn’t to attack you if they got out. But we all knew what was coming.” Owen gave her a sympathetic smile. “Go get your dog. You can have the rest of the day off” Dylan waved a goodbye and took off in the direction Bentley had run off to. As she walked she thought back to the first week they’d brought the raptors to the bunker. They’d been a little smaller than chickens…

**There hadn’t been much scary about the raptor squad in their early days. They behaved like most infants. Loud, needy, and helpless. Although they were a little nippy, Dylan and the rest of their handlers weren’t stupid enough to get their fingers too close to the raptors’ mouths. Back in the early days the raptors had been almost cute. Except for when they wouldn’t let their handlers sleep. Charlie, in particular, had a hard time settling in for the night.**

**“Can’t you get her to shut up?” Dylan snapped storming into the living room of the bunker where they’d set up a play pen for the raptors to sleep in.**

**Owen gave a tired glare. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do,” he sighed cradling Charlie to his chest. The little raptor was inconsolable. She was also disturbing her sisters who were chuffing angrily at her. “Why don’t you give it a try? I’ve been doing it the past three nights in a row.”**

**Dylan rolled her eyes. “I’m an animal handler, not a nanny,” she replied, but took the tiny raptor from him anyway. The second Charlie was in her arms she began to bounce a little on her heels.**

**“Do you have to go to the bathroom?” Owen asked noticing the movement.**

**“No,” she replied. “Bouncing comforts babies.”**

**“Charlie isn’t a human baby you know,” he pointed out. “She’s a velociraptor. I highly doubt…” He stopped talking and blinked in surprise when the raptor finally fell silent. “I’ll be damned.”**

**“Told you,” Dylan said and continued to rock the raptor for a bit before she leaned down to put her back in the pen. No sooner had she put Charlie down then she began to shriek again. Groaning Dylan scooped her back up and began rocking her again, soothing her back into silence.**

**Owen laughed. “Good luck getting her to sleep,” he said and turned before walking away.**

**“Where are you going?” Dylan called after him, earning an angry snort from Blue.**

**“I’m going to bed,” Owen told her. “You can stay up with her tonight. She seems to like you better anyway. Good night.”**

**Dylan stared after him for a moment before looking down at Charlie, who actually looked a little smug. “Why do I have the feeling you’re going to be a pain in my ass?” she questioned her. Charlie chirped cheerfully before settling in against her chest. Dylan rolled her eyes and walked around the small living room, bouncing gently. When she looked back down at Charlie she appeared to be asleep. Sighing in relief she gently put the raptor back in the pen and began to tip toe back to her bedroom. She hadn’t gotten five steps away when Charlie let out a loud screech. Dylan spun back around and lifted the raptor up so they were face to face.**

**“Listen Charlie, I plan on sleeping tonight so you need to give it a rest,” she told her. “If human babies can be happy in a play pen, than so can you.” Charlie, however, seemed to disagree, and continued to shriek and squirm in her grasp. Moaning, Dylan cradled the raptor back against her chest and began to head to her bedroom.**

**“Fine!” she gave in. “You can sleep with me tonight. But don’t think this is becoming routine, and if I wake up covered in scratches I’ll send you back into extinction.” Her threat just rolled right off Charlie, though, who, having gotten what she wanted, quieted down immediately. Dylan rolled her eyes and she climbed under her sheets and pulled them up until they met Charlie who was curled on her chest. The raptor let out a contented chirp and snuggled up against her breasts before finally falling to sleep. Dylan rolled her eyes before joining the raptor in sleep land.**

**She woke up to the sound of snickering and an odd clicking noise. She blinked her eyes open and saw Owen, Barry, and Nolan standing in her door way with cameras pointed at her. “Hey!” she cried indignantly and started to sit up, but Owen motioned for her to stop. “You get up and you’re going to have some angry raptors on your hand,” he told her.**

**“What?” she asked confused and looked down at her chest. Charlie was still fast asleep curled up in a tight ball. But Owen had said raptors, as in, more than one. She felt air blowing against her cheek and turned her head to see Blue asleep on her shoulder. She felt a small weight on her arm and saw Echo had slotted herself in the crevice between her arm and her side. She looked around for Delta and finally saw her lying on the other side of the bed.**

**“How the hell did they get up here?” she cried. “I only brought Charlie with me.”**

**“No idea,” Owen replied. “But I could have told you they would have followed. They’re pack animals. They like to sleep together.”**

**“By the way,” Nolan cut in. “You’re paying for a new play pen.”**

**“What? Why?” Dylan asked.**

**“They tore out of it,” Barry replied. “Raptors are apparently pretty efficient escape artists.”**

**Dylan groaned and threw her head back against the pillow. The noise or the movement woke Charlie up, who lifted her head up and cocked her head in confusion. Dylan tilted her chin down to meet the raptor’s gaze. “I was right. You’re a total pain in my ass,” she told her. Charlie chirped…**

        Dylan sighed. It was days like today when she really missed when the raptors had actually been affectionate. Even if they had occasionally been a pain in her ass. After that night the raptors rarely slept in any play pen they bought for them. Until they’d gotten too big to sleep inside the house and they’d had to build a tiny enclosure right outside the bunker, all the raptors had slept in her bed. Bentley had been extremely jealous. That poor dog put up with a lot.

       “Bentley!” Dylan called for the tenth time. She was starting to get worried. He always came when called. Still, he had to be terrified. It hadn’t taken him long to learn the raptors were dangerous, and having one almost eat him today had probably really freaked the dog out. “Bentley.” Finally she heard an answering bark and she hurried off towards it. She found him a few feet behind the bunker. She should have realized he’d have wanted to go someplace familiar to him. He immediately came to her, tail wagging slightly. She pet him for a few minutes, soothing the last of his trembling a way before standing back up and smiling down at him.

“How about a treat?” she offered. Bentley woofed eagerly and she led him back to the bunker.


	2. The Week from Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Jurassic World.

          It had taken four days for the containment team to get a new wall up. Four days in which Owen had to deal with four cranky raptors. Four cranky, cooped up raptors. Owen felt safe in saying the past few days had been hell. The raptors were thoroughly ruffled having only been allowed out of their containment cells for two hours each day while security people manned wooden boards that were put up while the raptors were out. It had really been a tense week for everyone at this point, but humans could handle a tense week with reason. Raptors? Not so much.

          All four of the raptors had become cross and hard to work with as the four days passed. They didn’t want to cooperate with their handlers and would growl and hiss at them when they had their daily morning checkups. They had had to give up on Delta, who was the most aggressive raptor. She wouldn’t even let Barry handle her. Nolan had had similar problems with Echo, and Blue, too, had shown frustration and growled at Owen. Even Charlie, who Owen often thought acted more like a giant puppy than a raptor, had snapped at Dylan. Charlie was rarely ever anything but affectionate with Dylan.

          Currently, Owen was staring out at the Blue and Delta and remembering what Dylan had mentioned four days ago. He often did miss when the raptors had been young. At least when they had bad days they were more manageable. He craned his head down to the gate of the paddock and saw Charlie and Echo in their containment cells. That morning when they let the raptors out for the day Echo and Charlie had gotten into a fight. Charlie had whacked Echo with her tail one too many times and the older raptor snapped. Luckily, it had occurred during the day where the team was able to break up the fight before it got really serious, but both raptors were sporting a few scratches, although none bad. Owen shook his head. Hell didn’t even describe the past four days.

         “Are you doing training today?” Barry asked climbing up the catwalk towards him.

        “No point,” Owen replied. “There’s no way it’ll go smoothly and two of the girls can’t participate anyway.” Owen shook his head again. “I’m calling it a day. I’m gonna order the feeders to sacrifice the pig to Blue and Delta and make sure Echo and Charlie get fed. The rest of the team should be able to manage getting Blue and Delta back into the containment cells for the night. Let’s just head back to the bunker.”

        “I’ll meet you at the jeep,” Barry said sounding relieved.

        When the two arrived back at the bunker they found Nolan relaxing in a sun lounger with a beer in hand.

       “Little early, isn’t it?” Owen remarked.

       “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” Nolan replied dully sitting up and taking a swig of his beer.

       “Where’s Dylan?” Barry asked.

       “The second we got back here she said she was taking a hot shower,” Nolan answered. “So far as I know she’s still in there. Someone should probably make sure she didn’t drown herself.”

        “It’s been that kind of a week,” Barry muttered and trudged towards the bungalow. Owen grabbed a plastic chair and plopped down next to Nolan. The other man looked over at him, his amber eyes reflecting gold from the setting sun.

         “Left early tonight,” Nolan commented.

        “The two containment workers on our team can handle two raptors easily enough,” Owen replied. “And I didn’t feel like sticking around when I wouldn’t be able to get any training done. What’s your excuse? You and Dylan booked it out of there well before me and Barry.”

         “There was no point in us sticking around when our charges were still being confined,” Nolan told him. “I never thought I’d be relieved that two of the girls got in a fight, but it was a great excuse to get out of there.”

         Owen sighed. “And to think the last time Echo got into a fight you were all frantic,” he muttered.

         “The last time Echo got in a fight her jaw had been whacked out of alignment and her other wounds were severe,” Nolan replied. “Charlie just gave her a few scratches.”

        “And how did Charlie fair?” Owen questioned.

       “Not too bad considering she’s the world’s most pathetic raptor,” Nolan chuckled. “Same thing really. A few scratches. The only difference is that Echo got her teeth in her once. She’ll be fine. Dylan’s upset about it though. Of course, she’s been upset since Charlie snapped at her the other day.”

         “Well, you know how Dylan is,” Owen remarked. “She’s very fond of the girls, especially Charlie. Hell, those two are the reason we ended up with personal handlers for the girls. It was originally just supposed to be me as alpha and you three to help. But Charlie just couldn’t stand to be away from Dylan.” Owen smiled remembering his youngest raptors strange attachment to Dylan. The raptors had been living with them for two weeks and Owen had decided to start training them…

**“Alright, we have Blue, Delta, Echo, and…”Owen looked at the empty spot next to Echo and frowned. He had called the girls to him and the other three came running, but apparently his youngest raptor had decided to ignore his call. He looked back at the other three raptors who were all staring up at him expectantly. He sighed and cupped his hands around his mouth and called for the remaining raptor again. “Charlie!” He waited a moment and looked around but there was no sign of Charlie. Starting to feel concerned he tried again. “CHARLIE!”**

**“Relax, Owen. She’s right here,” he heard Dylan say from the door of the bunker. Owen turned to see Dylan leaning against the doorframe and Charlie at her feet. The little raptor was looking up at Dylan with her matchstick arms extended in the air. It looked to Owen as if the raptor was asking to be picked up. He frowned.**

**“I’m training now. She needs to come when I call. Don’t hoard her,” Owen scolded mildly.**

**Dylan scowled. “Trust me. I’m not trying to hoard her. She won’t leave me alone,” she sighed. And then, as if to prove Dylan’s point, Charlie shrieked and pawed at Dylan’s legs. Dylan winced but leaned down and quickly scooped the baby raptor up in her arms. Owen was about to comment on all the scratches covering his coworkers legs when the sight of his three other raptors running towards Dylan caught his attention. They all started to vie for her attention and to be picked up.**

**“Ouch!” Dylan hissed as the raptors claws scratched at her legs. “Stop it girls.” Owen whistled and all four raptors turned to stare at him.**

**“Back in formation,” Owen ordered motioning for the girls to line up in front of him again. Blue was the first to get it and follow through and Echo and Delta followed right after. Charlie didn’t even squirm in Dylan’s arms. Dylan rolled her eyes and walked over to Owen and plopped the baby raptor down in line next to her sisters.**

**“There you go,” the tough as nails handler said to Owen before heading back for the bunker. Much to Owen’s dismay Charlie chased right after her. Dylan was resorted to picking her back up again and turned around to give Owen and apologetic smile.**

**“This is just great,” Owen muttered. “They’re supposed to listen to me and follow my orders.”**

**“They seem to have favorites, though,” Dylan remarked.**

**“What?” Owen snapped.**

**“Well, they each seem to prefer one of us,” Dylan responded. “Charlie never lets me leave her sight. She tried to get in the shower with me this morning. Echo likes Nolan. She always goes to him to play with her toys. Delta likes Barry because he sneaks her extra helpings of meat, although I think that’s just so she won’t bite him. And Blue always listens to you.”**

**“What’s your point?” Owen asked knowing Dylan well enough to know that her rambling was going somewhere.**

**“Teach us what you want to teach the girls and that way when you work with them all together it won’t take as long and you’ll be able to hold their attention,” Dylan replied. “And try and have us all in sight. At least for now. I don’t think they’ll be so needy once they get a little older...”**

         It had worked out pretty well, and Dylan had been right. Once the raptors got a little older their preferences for their handlers diminished enough that Owen was able to work with them on his own, although Charlie to this day really preferred Dylan over everyone else.

         “Alright, we’ve got more beer,” Dylan’s voice rang out from the deck of the bunker. Owen turned to see her and Barry lugging a large cooler out onto the lawn. Dylan’s dog, Bentley, ran out from the bunker and into the yard and began rolling in the grass.

         “Gonna try and drown your sorrows in another way?” Owen teased the female handler as she handed him a Corona.

         “If I was gonna do that I would have dug into my secret stash,” Dylan remarked popping off the cap of her own drink and then guzzling down half the bottle.

         “Your secret stash isn’t so secret,” Nolan commented. “We all know you hide your Patron in the toilet tank.”

         “Moved it,” Dylan replied tersely.

         “Again?” Owen laughed.

         “Well I had to. Someone was getting into it,” Dylan said glaring at Barry.

         Barry just smiled. “It’s been a rough week,” he declared.

        “Amen to that,” Nolan sighed.

       Owen raised his beer bottle. “Here’s to never having a week like this ever again,” he toasted. The others raised their own bottles in salute and they all drank to hope for the future. Owen placed his beer bottle in his glass and stared up at the ruby horizon before his attention was caught by Bentley chasing lightening bugs. He smiled. There were a lot of bad weeks when it came to managing raptors but it was moments like these that made it all worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you think so far.


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